MPavilion announces 2018 architect

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation today announced the commission for the fifth annual MPavilion has been awarded to internationally renowned Spanish-based architect and educator Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós. MPavilion 2018 will be the first public commission by a Spanish female architect in Australia. The announcement comes as MPavilion 2017, designed by OMA / Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten, closed on Sunday 11 February, having received an overwhelming public response with more than 117,000+ visitors and 477 free events over 133 days.

Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, who commissioned Carme Pinós to design MPavilion 2018, commented: “Carme’s remarkable work honours the responsibility of architecture to serve a community, by creating spaces that place human experience and environment at the centre of her designs. Her approach to architecture, social housing and community reflects MPavilion’s ongoing desire to stimulate debate about the role of design and architecture in building creative and equitable cities and communities.”

Commenting on her commission for MPavilion 2018, Carme Pinós, founder of Estudio Carme Pinós, said: “It is my honor and pleasure to have this opportunity to design a new pavilion for the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. It is a great responsibility to create a unique place in this special park with views over Melbourne—a city to which I have deep attachments. I am inspired by the fact that this new project will become a cultural destination for the city.”

A recipient of the prestigious Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize, Carme has made significant contributions to advance gender equity in the field of architecture with work exhibiting commitment to community. Part of a humanist approach to architecture, she is celebrated for urban refurbishments, social housing, public works and furniture design. Her architecture has garnered worldwide appreciation in tandem with the rise of modern architecture in Barcelona, increasingly growing in influence and reputation throughout Europe; South, Central and North America; and beyond.

Among her most significant works are the Department Building of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria), the Cube II Towers in Guadalajara (Mexico), the Caixaforum Cultural and Exhibition Centre in Zaragoza (Spain), and the metro station Zona Universitaria and the Crematorium in the Igualada Cemetery, both in Barcelona.

Continuing its strong collaborative approach to programming, MPavilion 2017 engaged more than 550 collaborators including cultural institutions, architects, artists, musicians, dancers, choreographers, scientists and designers to develop the four-month free cultural program. This year’s program contributed to numerous festivals and public events, including Melbourne Festival, Melbourne Music Week, Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Mapping Melbourne and more.

Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley said: “MPavilion is a unique concept that brings together some of our greatest design talent to share ideas with the Victorian community. I’m excited to see how Carme Pinós draws from human experience, environment and architecture to develop a creative space for all to enjoy. Each edition of MPavilion brings its own vision for a creative, inspiring meeting place. This will be something truly special for our city.”

Due to popular demand, the MPavilion 2017 was extended to stretch until Sunday 11 February. It presented: 70 talks and public lectures; 63 music performances; 35 design meetings and gatherings; 26 workshops; 20 kids events; 25 health and wellbeing events; 7 projects and installations and 250+ morning and evening rituals. Central to the program this year was the figuring of MPavilion as an intergenerational space. Events were spread across a number of themes including design & architecture, liveable cities, and ‘countryside’—inspired by OMA / Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten. In summary:

• Attended by 117,000+ visitors
• Presented 477 free events with 550 collaborators.
• International guests included architects Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA; Zaha Hadid Architects principal Patrik Schumacher; V&A curator of contemporary architecture and urbanism, Rory Hyde; London-based architect and director of the REAL foundation, Jack Self; London-based designers Saša Štucin and Nicholas Gardner of Soft Baroque; Albanian contemporary artist Anri Sala; and Singaporean artist Sam Lo.
• New this year was MPavilion’s special Regional Program, devised in collaboration with Shepparton Art Museum and Geelong Gallery, and led by Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV) director Sarah Lynn Rees. The Regional Program brought to MPavilion musical showcases from both regional locations, with the assistance of Multicultural Arts Victoria, and a public talk by Sydney-based artist Keg de Souza, who travelled to Shepparton to create an alternative map of the area based on local knowledge. Keg also appeared at a special offsite MTalks at The Connection in Shepparton, to share the outcomes of her time spent with local communities on Yorta Yorta land as part of the project. Further outcomes from the regional program will be shared in the months to come.
• Also new this year was MPavilion’s inaugural call for proposals, which invited submissions to the program from the public. Highlights from the call for proposals included Queer some space presented by XYX Lab and The Lifted Brow; Towards a swimmable, liveable Yarra (Birrarung) presented by YarraPools; the A stage for new parenthood meet-up and discussion series, which saw MPavilion 2017 transformed into a space for parents and babies; music in the gardens with Gertrude Opera; Is good design measurable?, a bumper panel discussion presented by the Office of the Victorian Government Architect; and a two-part placemaking workshop with CoDesign Studio. A total of 35 events this season were initiated through the call for proposals this year, with this figure expected to grow next season.
• MProjects—a series of specially commissioned installations and interventions—took centre-stage this year, with site-specific works by OMA/ Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten, Philip Brophy, Matthew Bird, Soft Baroque and respected Boon Wurrung elder N’Arweet Carolyn Briggs, as well as new iterations of established works by Tin&Ed (with QIC|GRE), Sam Lo (with 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Melbourne Festival), and Caitlin Franzmann (with Liquid Architecture).
• In December 2017, MPavilion by OMA / Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten was named by prestigious design bible Wallpaper* as one of the top international buildings that shaped culture in 2017.

MPavilion is Australia’s leading architecture commission and design event, made possible through the vision of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and Australian philanthropist Naomi Milgrom AO. MPavilion is a philanthropic success story that has seen government, business and private sectors collaborate to bring an important new civic space to Melbourne with strong public, industry and educational components.

MPavilion is supported by major partners City of Melbourne, the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria, and ANZ, and has received over 351,000 visitors since its inception in 2014. MPavilion 2017’s Regional Program in collaboration with Shepparton Art Museum and Geelong Gallery has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. MPavilion is Wi-Fi enabled and powered by Optus.

MPavilion 2018 will open free to the public on 8 October 2018. For further details please visit mpavilion.org

About Carme Pinós
Carme Pinós set up Estudio Carme Pinós in 1991 after winning international recognition for her work with Enric Miralles. Current projects include the Regional Office of the Generalitat in Tortosa (Spain); the architectural set composed by Gardunya Square, Massana School of Arts, a housing block and the west façade of the popular La Boqueria Market in the Historical District of Barcelona (Spain); and the masterplan for the historic centre of Saint Dizier (France), where Carme is also carrying out a series of interventions in public spaces. Among her most significant completed recent projects are the Departments Building of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria); the Cube II Towers in Guadalajara (Mexico); the CaixaForum Cultural and Exhibition Centre in Zaragoza (Spain); the metro station Zona Universitària in Barcelona; and the Crematorium in the Igualada Cemetery (Spain).

Carme combines work as an architect with teaching worldwide. She received the Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize valuing her contribution to promoting the advancement of women in the field of architecture and her commitment to the community. Carme has been awarded the Richard J. Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence. Other awards include the Creu de Sant Jordi Medal by the Catalan Government for her cultural and social services and the First Prize at the Spanish Biennial of Architecture. She was named Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and RIBA International Fellow.

Her work has been widely exhibited in several galleries, museums and universities. The Centre Pompidou acquired the scale models of the Caixaforum Zaragoza in Spain, the Hotel Pizota in Mexico, and the Maison de l’Algérie of Paris. The model of the Cube I Tower currently belongs to the collection of New York’s MOMA.

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